Restaurant introduces ‘minimum spend’ that will see solo diners pay double to eat alone

A restaurant in London has sparked criticism over its decision to introduce a minimum spend next month that will see solo diners charged double for their meals.

In August, Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal, which boasts two Michelin stars, will increase the prices of its tasting menus.

Currently, a five-course tasting menu costs ￡125 per person, while it’s ￡175 for seven courses.

However, from 17 August, the restaurant will increase its prices by 11 per cent, bringing five courses to ￡165 and seven courses to ￡195.

This is due to an increase in supplier costs and rising staff shortages in London, due to Brexit, that has put pressure on the business.

For those dining alone, though, the new minimum spend means solo visitors could be charged a minimum of ￡330 to visit the restaurant due to the volume of requests they receive.

However, the restaurant confirmed that they keep one to two tables for solo diners for every service without the minimum spend. So solo diners who book within 24 to 48 hours of their required booking time could be able to swerve the minimum spend depending on whether those tables are available at the time.

Nonetheless, the initiative sparked outrage on Twitter, with commenters quick to point out the joys of dining alone, and how solo diners are often stigmatised.

“F*** the Hotel Café Royal then… Solo dining is one of life’s great pleasures,” tweeted one person.

“Oh great news. Yet another penalty for being single,” another added.

Hugh Smithson-Write, who works in restaurant PR, tweeted: “A classic example of making the customer the problem, rather than finding a solution.

“If you get ‘many solo diner requests’ how about you reconfigure your dining room to accommodate that and maximise the revenue? This is the very opposite of hospitality!”

Victoria Sheppard, chief executive at Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal, told The Independent: “Since achieving our two Michelin stars the demand for solo dining has increased dramatically and whilst we make every effort to accommodate solo diners, we also have to be considerate to the running costs of our business.

“That said, we are increasing our opening hours from 17 August and will be able to accommodate more solo diners (without any discretionary minimum spend). 95 per cent of our solo diners requesting tables since we implemented a discretionary minimum spend when we are at capacity for solo diners have been more that happy to proceed with their booking, enjoying wine pairings or champagne of wine alongside their meal.

“Nightclubs in our local vicinity have minimum spends for tables or hotels you pay the same price whether one guest or two which is never under dispute.”